Tuesday, 21 May 2013

The first full meeting of Cornwall Council took place today
and Independent councillor John Pollard (above) from Hayle was elected leader of the
authority. He will lead a joint Independent and Liberal Democrat Cabinet of ten
members, split equally between the two groups.

There were discussions between the Conservative, Independent
and Liberal Democrat groups about the possibility of a “rainbow” or “one and
all” administration. These negotiations were not necessarily as reported in the
press, and ended up being quite fractious.

Last week, the Independents and Liberal Democrats offered
the Conservatives two seats on the Cabinet, which were not accepted. Late in
the week, the Independents and Liberal Democrats then offered these two
remaining places to Labour and MK, in what appeared to be an effort to have a
broader Executive.

The offer was made at about 4.00 on Friday, with a request
to consider the option over the ensuing weekend. But unfortunately, within an
hour, it was being misreported in the local media that a deal had actually
already been done.

This was not the case. The Labour group declined the offer
which meant that a wider administration was not possible, and at a meeting of the
MK group on Sunday, we decided that it would not be appropriate to seek MK representation
on an Executive containing only two other groups.

The MK group has prepared a statement about the new
administration and our approach to Cornwall Council over the next four years.
The statement is as follows:

“The Mebyon Kernow group is disappointed that the three main
groups on the Council (Conservative, Liberal Democrat and Independent) were
unable to agree an administration, that would have been able to work
collectively for the betterment of Cornwall.

“From an MK perspective, this could have meant the whole
council coming together to challenge the disproportionate level of central
government cuts to local government, in general, and to Cornwall Council, in
particular.

“In these difficult times, it remains our view that all
groups on the authority must work together constructively. It cannot be right
to put political self-interest ahead of what is best for Cornwall.

“Though we will not be part of the Independent / Liberal Democrat
administration, the MK councillors on Cornwall Council are committed to working
with one and all, to seek a better deal for our communities.

“We look forward to engaging positively with the administration
on a range of issues and on policy development and to ensure greater
transparency in decision-making.”

Sunday, 19 May 2013

This weekend, it was great to take a break from viewing the
political shenanigans at County Hall.

I was delighted to be one of the three thousand people at the
Recreation Ground in Camborne, watching Cornwall
beat Hertfordshire by 41 points to 29 to secure a place in this weekend’s
Twickenham final.

The players were magnificent and played their hearts out.

As a supporter of Redruth, the sixth and final try was truly
amazing with the move involving five Reds.

Scrum-half Greg Goodfellow rifled the ball out to Lock
Damian Cook who flew down the wing, before throwing it back inside to prop Craig
Williams who in turn passed to the other prop Darren Jacques. With a powerful turn
of speed, Darren almost made it to the try-line, where Redruth flyhalf was on
hand to dive over to score.

To see great photographs, such as the one above, visit the Cornish rugby updates page on Facebook.

Thursday, 16 May 2013

It has been a difficult week in St Enoder Parish with the
devastating arson attack

on the Western Greyhound depot in Summercourt, which
destroyed over 35 buses.

It is a relief that no-one was hurt in the attack and I hope
that the Police will be able to identify and take strong action against the
individuals or individuals who were responsible for the fire.

The damage was truly horrific and Western Greyhound are to
be commended for getting so many buses out to serve the communities of Cornwall
in such a short time after the fire.

I am grateful to Mark Howarth, the owner of Western Greyhound,
for keeping me informed about the progress on the site, as well as those local
residents who have contacted me with information about the incident.

Tuesday, 7 May 2013

Today, I attended the first induction day for new (and
returning) councillors at Cornwall Council. The four MK councillors are pictured
above.

All the political groups had their first formal group
meetings and “negotiations” have commenced as to the make-up of the next
administration.

The view of the MK group is clear. We believe that all of
the main groups should be represented on the governing Cabinet. But it remains to be
seen whether the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats put political self-interest
to one side and work together with each other, and the other groups, for the betterment of Cornwall.

There are statistics (see below) and also thoughtful comment
from Dr Deacon.

Here’s the extract on MK’s performance.

"MK will be disappointed at its tally of seats. Its average
vote share rose, revealing steady progress, and it seems to have weathered the
Ukip storm quite well. In fact, MK came very close to a spectacular
breakthrough. If just 140 voters in five wards had switched to MK, the party
would have won nine seats rather than the four it ended up with and
celebrations would have been widespread. As it is, a solid performance and an
impressive manifesto provide a good base for expansion. The party must
now look to ways of hoovering up those who will become increasingly disaffected
by the London-orientated parties and the lack of an alternative to centralising
neo-liberal policies."

Seven MK members also contested elections to town and parish
councils on Thursday and six were successful. The results have not been widely
publicised, in which MK councillors did extremely well, out-polling
Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrat and Independent candidates.

Delighted that MK’s
newest unitary councillor is my good friend, Matt Luke. Matt is 46-year-old Cornishman, who has
served on Treverbyn Parish Council for the last fourteen years. He also
represented the Parish on Restormel Borough Council for two years from 2007 until the Council’s abolition in 2009.

A
conscientious councillor, he has been involved with a large number of local
organisations, including the committee of Trethurgy Village Hall as well as the
Eden Neighbourhood Forum.

I am very proud of the 26 MK members who stood for election
to Cornwall Council. We polled well across Cornwall
and managed a very credible series of results, though we are obviously
disappointed that we failed to win a number of seats by a handful of votes.

Our candidates achieved a total of 6,824 votes. Four
candidates were successful and the average vote-share was over 24% in those
divisions contested by MK.

All three sitting councillors successfully defended their
seats and each increased their share of the vote. I polled 834 votes in his my
St Enoder division, ahead of a single independent opponent. My share of the vote
equated to 87%, up from 78% in 2009. Andrew Long meanwhile managed 712 votes
(61%) in Callington, up from 54% in 2009, while Loveday Jenkin amassed 751
votes (55%) in Crowan and Wendron, significantly higher than the 36% which she
achieved in the 2011 by-election.

The highlight of the election was Matthew Luke’s win in
Penwithick and Boscoppa. He managed 356 votes and defeated the sitting Liberal
Democrat councillor (295 votes) and a Conservative challenger (165 votes).

Sadly a number of candidates missed out by a handful of
votes.

In Fowey and Tywardreath, Fiona Carlyon fought an
outstanding campaign. She managed 477 votes, out-polled a prominent local
Conservative, but missed out by only 13 votes to the sitting Lib Dem
councillor.

In Newlyn (East) and Goonhavern, Rod Toms also fought an
amazing campaign and managed 529 votes – just 26 behind the Conservative.

And in Illogan, Stephen Richardson lost out to the sitting
Conservative by only 41 votes – but out-polled Labour, Liberal Democrat and
UKIP candidates.

In Camborne, hard-working town councillors Mike Champion and
Alan Sanders also missed out. Both received a very positive response on the
doorstep, but this did not materialise largely because of a late UKIP surge
which strangely appears to have impacted on the MK vote. And although both
finished in fourth place, Mike was only 28 votes short of success and Alan was
only 32 votes behind the victor.

I am confident that we will be able to build on these
results and we will be able to push MK to the next level.

Friday, 3 May 2013

It is somewhat late, but I must make an initial comment on
today’s local election results.

I am obviously delighted to have been re-elected to serve my
home parish on Cornwall Council and I would like to thank everyone who supported me with their votes. The turnout was down on 2009, and the full
result was as follows:

Dick Cole (Mebyon Kernow) – 834 (87%)

Elizabeth Hawken (Independent) – 126 (13%)

Overall, MK won four seats. Andrew Long and Loveday Jenkin
were also re-elected to the authority and my good friend Matt Luke was elected to
represent Penwithick and Boscoppa in Clay Country.

We also had a number of near-misses. Five candidates missed
out on election by less than 45 votes, including Fiona Carlyon (Tywardreath and
Fowey) who lost by 17 votes and Rod Toms who lost out in Newlyn and Goonhavern
by only 26 votes.

I intend to comment in more detail on the unitary election
results over the weekend.

I am also pleased to report that the following MK members
have been elected to town and parish councils: John Gibbs (Bodmin Town
Council), Zoe Fox (Camborne Town Council), Steve Richardson (Illogan Parish
Council), Phil Rendle and Rob Simmons (Penzance Town Council), and Derek
Collins (St Austell Town Council). Sadly Tony Leamon missed out in Falmouth.

Thursday, 2 May 2013

It has been a frantic few days and, now that the polling
stations have closed, I would like to congratulate all 26 MK candidates and
their teams for running positive and engaging election campaigns.

It has been a privilege to lead a party which such wonderful
individuals, each and every one committed to winning a better deal for Cornwall.

In particular, I would also like to thank my team of helpers
in St Enoder division – you have all been brilliant and I am truly in your debt
– as well as all those residents who showed their support by displaying posters
or leaflets, and gave me encouragement along the way.